Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo sealed a deal with Tumblr to purchase the blogging platform for 1.1 billion dollars. This acquisition is just one of the many bold moves Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has made since she took the reins last summer. The purchase is no doubt a means for Yahoo to tap into Tumblr’s nearly 117 million active unique visitors.
To ease the anxieties of Tumblr’s massive user base, Yahoo issued a statement promising they wouldn’t screw things up. Bold words for a company whose acquisition record has earned it the nick-name of “start-up killer.”
Mayer, who has been branded as a warrior-CEO, is comparing this acquisition to Google’s purchase of YouTube, a smooth, seamless move that didn’t disrupt the user-experience.
Yahoo is also keeping Tumblr’s founder and CEO David Karp at the helm of the blogging platform. This isn’t typical of Yahoo, a company who in the past has been prone to purchase start-ups, absorb their talent, and close their doors. No Yahoo branding will be present on Tumblr either. Just how the company plans to monetize the platform without diluting the user experience with traditional advertising remains to be seen, and it’s going to be interesting.
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